Say Please and Thank You & Stand in Line
By Dany Assaf
ISBN: 9781989555378
Website: danyassaf.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary:
After the tragedy of 9/11, a sign suddenly appeared on a suburban Edmonton lawn that “Osama bin Laden lives closer than you think.” The sign pointed to Dany Assaf’s house. Dany was born in Edmonton, where he played hockey and dreamed of the NHL, a life familiar to any Canadian kid. Yet suddenly, despite generations of family history in Alberta, he and his family were branded as Muslim the “other” to be feared and shunned.
Dany, now a top Bay Street competition lawyer who travels the globe representing Canadian interests, examines how we got to this point—from idolizing Darryl Sittler as a boy to dealing with the threats of white supremacists to the joy of his son Mohamad carrying the Canadian flag to midfield at the 100th Anniversary of the Grey Cup. Moving through the disturbing politics of hate to the uplifting message of togetherness, this is an untold Canadian story of four generations of a Muslim family and their journey through an increasingly fragile multicultural society. It is also a blueprint for hope that seeks to reclaim the soul and spirit of what has made Canada unique.
Review:
Say Please and Thank You & Stand in Line: One man’s story of what makes Canada special, and how to keep it that way by Dany Assaf is a memoir I won’t soon forget.
There were numerous statements that resonated with me… and here are a few:
“When people hate an entire group, one of the things they may be hating is the sense of belonging that the members of that group share with each other, something that the hater may not have and may envy. For others, it is easier to hate someone else’s identity than to create their own. It often says more about the hater than the hated.”
“There are many reasons why we hate. One is because we fear things that are different from us. Behavioural researcher Patrick Wanis notes that when we feel threatened by those we perceive as outsiders; we turn toward those we identify with as a survival mechanism.”
“The benefits of immigrants have never been greater. The arguments in favour of relatively high immigration levels have chiefly been economic. Immigrants tend to be entrepreneurial and produce a net gain for any national economy. The immediate economic benefits are easily measurable. What is more difficult to measure is the advantage to having a multicultural population, like Canada, that is equipped to deal with almost any other culture or nation on earth.”
The book was published in 2021 and I definitely found it some of information quite shocking:
“In Canada, we are often smug about the fact that we don’t have the kind of toxic racism that plagues our southern neighbours. But a report that was issued by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue in the UK identified more than 6,600 online pages, accounts or groups in Canada that were spreading white supremacist or misogynistic views. On a per capita basis, Canada was shown to be one of the most active countries in the world when it came to spreading toxic views.”
The history of Dany Assaf’s family in Canada, going back many generations, was interesting and kept my interest. As an immigrant to Canada myself, I felt his story compelling. He shared his views on multiculturalism, racism and family values – again captivating.
If you are to read one book this year on multiculturalism in Canada, and the Canadian culture from the perspective of a Muslim family – make it this book -> Say Please and Thank You and Stand in Line! You will be confronted with many truths about what makes Canada a great melting pot for many people.
